Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, is a masterpiece mocking communism. Animalism, which represents communism, was a revolution that didn’t work. Animalism was supposed to make life better for the animals but instead their lives got worse. By the end of the story, everything had changed. The government had become corrupt, there was a dictator, and the animals had become slaves to the pigs.
Life for the animals couldn’t get any worse. At the beginning of the story, the animals revolted because of the way they were treated by Mr. Jones, the farmer. They felt that the farmers made all the profit, reaped all the rewards but didn’t do any of the work.
So they formed a government called Animalism. In Animalism, there are no owners, no rich, but no poor, workers got a better life, and all animals are equal. They had even established laws called the Seven Commandments, which were intended to give basic rights to animals and protect them from oppression. The goals of the government were also established. The goals said that everyone was equal, there would be more food and sleep for all, there was to be respect for all animals, and they would build a windmill to make life better for all. By the end of the book, all this no longer existed.
The animals were getting less sleep, less food, and less respect. The windmill became a source of money for the leaders, not for all the animals. The seven commandments were gradually changed to suit the pigs and then there was only one Commandment left. “‘Are the Seven Commandments the same as they used to be, Benjamin?’ There was nothing now except for a single Commandment.
It ran: All animals are equal but some are more equal than others”(133). That single commandment made the pigs more powerful. Animalism no longer existed. At the beginning of the story, there were two leaders, Snowball and Napoleon, that were sharing power.
Snowball was good with words, honest, good at arguing, was inventive, and believed in technology. He stayed in touch with the animals, and wanted to make things better for them. Napoleon, on the other hand, was bad with words, dishonest, hated arguing, and was not inventive. He wanted to be above all the animals; he didn’t care about making things better. He only believed in serving himself. In order for Napoleon to be above all the animals, he had to get Snowball out of the way.
Napoleon did that by getting his dogs to scare him away so Snowball would never come back to the farm. Napoleon was now in total control of the farm and the animals. Napoleon and the pigs started acting like humans – they would drink, wear clothes, sleep in beds, fight, and walk. They did everything that they had once said was wrong. Things were worse for the rest of animals than when Mr.
Jones was running the farm. Just after the revolution, the animals worked on the farm because they wanted to. All the animals owned the farm, so all worked for it. It was their farm. After Napoleon takes over and creates a dictatorship, the animals are forced to work.
Napoleon and the pigs owned the farm and the others became slaves to them. The animals “volunteered” or they got less food. The dogs used force; and Squealer, a pig, would lie to them to make them work. The pigs weren’t fair to the other animals at all.
Orwell shoes that revolutions are not always for the better. The outcome of it is not the same as it would be if there is someone that wants more power and is never satisfied with what they have already achieved. That person is always thinking about themselves instead of the good of the others. It seems to be in “human” nature to act the way that way.Bibliography: .
